"Tell Bob that those budget increases were not for textbooks. Kids need play time, and they need teachers that aren't stressed out. Go. Now!" Suzie growled.
"But... Mrs. President, we..."
"I said NOW!" she screamed.
"Yes, Mrs. President." Dick turned and left the room.
"That's better." She kneeded her temples at the desk. Getting the Department of Education to go along with the increases for teacher's salaries and playground equipment was always like pulling teeth.
Suzie hurriedly stood up from her desk and started for the exit of the Oval Office. Without even a look, she continued straight to the side door that lead to the bedroom quarters, while growling again at her assistant. "Get us ready to greet Thomas. And are we still having lunch with Ivan later?"
"Mrs. President, your schedule says Thomas will be here in 30 minutes. Ivan will be able to attend for lunch, but at 12:30. Will that be all?"
She stopped at the door and turned to look at her assistant, her voice softening a bit, although it was still matter-of-fact. "I don't like this dress, it makes me look bad. What happened to the blue one?"
Travis suppressed a smirk. "It's in dry cleaning, we're trying to get the ice cream stains removed."
She sighed. "Well... Ok. Is there a different one? I want to look presentable."
Travis couldn't supress the smirk anymore. "I think you have the pink-and-white available. Would that work?"
Seeing the smirk, she smiled a bit, knowing what he was implying. "Yeah. Gimme me a few minutes."
Suzie left the Oval Office and headed for her bedroom. When she got there, she noticed that once again security had re-arranged the wall decorum. She was miffed that they kept doing that, but they insisted it was for security. Quickly she made her way to the closet and picked the pink/white dress off of the rack, and hurriedly changed. She always liked a visit with Thomas and wanted to look nice for him.
After a few minutes, she stepped out, only to be greeted by her mother.
"Well...how do I look?" The combination blazer-and-dress was a bit conservative for her tastes - the surrounding blazer over the top of it hid much of the print that started at the straps, a mix of black-and-white artwork that gradually tapered off as it descended past the bust line - but she knew it was important to keep her appearance understated for diplomatic functions. The blazer's length was just long enough to allow her to move freely, without it being caught when sitting. It also covered all of the artwork while giving her a formal appearance. She didn't hate the blazer, just the fact that that it covered the best parts of the dress.
"Mrs. President, you look wonderful." She smiled sincerely and her eyes were happy. It always bugged her when her mother was glowing like that.
"Is it really necessary to have the blazer?" She always liked the backside of the dress, where the print took on a controversial tone. Once, during a domestic function, attending the Department of the Something-or-Other, she took the jacket off, only to be greeted by the clicking cameras of the press. And while she had hell to pay the next day, she was giggling for a week after that fiasco. It made her happy to let people know she was not always wanting to be President, and the dress was her way of giving the public the bird.
Her mother's slow, nervous answer told her what she already knew. "While I know you like that dress, there are visiting diplomats that don't take kindly to some of our culture." A smile with a hint of nervousness followed. "The blazer is a prudent idea, the press will be there for a time, and we don't want bad diplomatic relations due to bad press, right?"
"Ok..." she said, a bit sulkily. In the back of her head, she was still conspiring to show Thomas the print, after the press had left.
"Hey Mom?"
"Yes?"
"What did they do to the posters? And the new one, the one with the band..."
"Security dear. I'm afraid they had to reduce the poster count on the walls. Something about being able to obscure listening devices."
"But I liked that new one I got yesterday! They didn't throw it away, did they?"
"No, it's in storage, along with all the others." Her mom smiled. "Dear, I know it bothers you, but we're just concerned."
"Yeah, whatever..." Suzie rolled her eyes. Then she remembered what was next and perked up. "Hey, what time is it?"
"About 10:24, so Thomas should be here in a few minutes". That made Suzie's eyes light up a bit.
"Good! Is the reception room ready?"
"Yes, Mrs. President."
Suzie Goodchild, 36th electoral President of the United Regions of the Americas, ran to the reception room. At just 11, she was the oldest elected President of the URA, and into the 1st year of her two-year term. She was elected for her fierce stance on violence, and her ability to woo visiting boy diplomats. Thomas Beckenridge, Vice Roy of the United Welsh Kingdom, was already waiting for her. While she took a hard stance with other boys, there was something about Thomas that had a soft place in her heart. Her cabinet, including her mother (who was Secretary of State) were often looking nervous, wondering if this could become a potential political issue. Ivan Torvich, diplomat from the Russian Confederacy, was also a favorite of hers. She found his accented English to be an irresistible lure, although not as much as that of Thomas.
And so it was, and had always been for a long while. The use of select children in diplomatic and domestic political roles was one of the defining events of the 20th Century. They often lacked a hidden agenda, or the biases of older adults, which gave them the ability resolve international disputes in often creative and arbitrary ways. Their unique view, based on being a child, also created a surge in child care, rights advocacy, education, health, and behavioral research. It was hard to have adults argue to cut education when the person approving the rubber-stamp on the budget was a kid themselves. It was even harder to allow personal bias and hubris in adults to foster when children were constantly reminding them that they too, at one time, had a childhood as well. There were diplomatic uses for this - sorting out the trilateral disarmament of the URA, UWK, and RC nuclear weapon stockpiles based on exchanges of PB&J sandwiches was a difficult task to complete, yet time and time again the results were demonstrated to be far superior to whatever adults would muster.
